Mints and Magic

Chapter 1: Fireworks

This is the part where you find out what the heck is going on.

Before we start, I want to allay some fears. “Mister Narrator,” you might say. “I just read the prologue. This had better not be another 'humans in Equestria' story! It is, isn't it? Okay, I'm leaving now.”

Now just wait! Come back!

Please?

There you go. Just sit down and hear me out for a second. This isn't so bad as all that. Just stick with me for a few pages, and you'll see. Sure, there are some themes surrounding the theory of a human being plopped in here, and there will be some awkwardness for comedic effect, but it gets serious enough. No really, I swear! Keep with me here, you'll see this is setting up to be a nice, big, grand adventure. Okay, I'll stop breaking the fourth wall.

For now.

Our story begins with a bewildered little pegasus somewhere in the Everfree forest during the dark of night. His bewilderment came not from the fact that he was lost—though he was—the main source of it was from the fact that he had no idea how he had become lost in the first place. Last he remembered, he had been home, lounging in bed until lulling off to sleep. Now, the poor colt stood there amongst the mostly identical-looking trees for a while, looking about so as to try to get his bearings. Unfortunately, nothing was familiar to him. He went to scratch his forehead with a hoof. This, however, gave him pause. He sat on his rump, staring at the hoof before giving a shout and flopping over rather lamely in distress (Ah, I'm sure you've just figured out the catch, my dear reader.). A string of incoherent thoughts ran through his mind almost more quickly than he could keep track of them, all while he frantically checked himself over: Hoof? Fur? Other hoof? Tail?! First hoof again? Mane!? ...Wings?!?

It was another few moments before he calmed enough to also take note of his new coloration: a white coat that almost shined with a contrast against the darkness of the rest of the night as it reflected what little light there was to be had, and—as best he could tell—a mane and tail that roughly mimicked the colors of the grass and leaves of the forest itself. Okay. This had to be a dream. A weird hallucination or something. That was as best as he could rationalize it, at any rate, and he was sticking to that for the time being.

Next was the task of walking. He had been standing there well enough, at least prior to his minor crisis, but propelling himself forward proved to be not so simple of a task as he had hoped. He stood up, attempting to take a step ahead. Flip. That's okay, really. Try again! Flop. Starting to get a headache, here. Step...step...there you go, now watch it! A trip sent him fumbling again; an involuntary flapping of wings only proved to worsen this situation as he tumbled head-over-hooves into a tree. Whump! Ouch. He winced, thankful that no one could see this embarrassment...only to realize how silly that was compared to his more pressing predicament. He stood back up and shook himself off, steeling himself for another attempt. Carefully, he took a few precarious steps, one hoof in front of the other...in front of the other...in front of the other. Alright! A start. A wobbly one, but still a start. The new pegasus held off celebrating his new-found victory in favor of taking a few more steps, each a bit more confident than the last.

Excellent. Now that he had walking down (well, close enough, at any rate), he just had to pick a direction. Since he had no idea where he was, he figured he ought to just go straight until the forest ended. After all, it had to end eventually, right? Unfortunately, the forest was rather terrifying—particularly in the dark of the night—and it made his want to continue wane quickly when each and every tree, bush, and shrub started to look like some kind of scraggly, pointy, wooden monster ready to pounce on and eat him. The howls and other noises of what his ears told him were very real wildlife (despite internal protests to the contrary; ”just a dream...or...horrible...horrible nightmare...”) didn't help matters, either. As a result, the already-wobbly pegasus made his cautious way through what at least appeared to be some sort of path through the otherwise dense foliage.

As he continued along, the forest continued to be vastly dark, with thick brush and an abundance of tall, round trees. Every once in a while, he could spot a star-flecked sky through a gap in the high branches created by a clearing of said trees, shining its light down onto the forest floor. Upon reaching a particularly large clearing, he finally stopped and stared. It was the most beautiful sky he had ever seen (though that wasn’t saying much, since most of the skies he had seen consisted primarily of incoherent blobs of either orange, blue, or grey). It, with the greater illumination it provided in the clearing, helped to alleviate his feelings of terror and loneliness, if only a little, and as he stood there, he became increasingly enthralled by it. He started to trot along again, fixated on the wonderful, not scary opening in the canopy.

Thunk!

Down he went...again. With a few dazed blinks, he shook himself off, glancing about frantically to discover what he had just stumbled upon. What he found was a most terrifying figure, towering over his own as it stood up. The shadows generated by the night's modest light only allowed him to see the silhouette of this monster and its massive horn. Panic struck through him once again. He scrambled to his hooves and begged them to carry him away as quickly as possible. He shot off like a rocket, and he had almost made it to the edge of the clearing when the world went spinning again. A stray root sent him whirling in a tumbling ball of flailing appendages until he came to a sprawling halt to stare at the edge of the crown of leaves surrounding the clearing above.

That scene was quickly filled with that familiar silhouette again, and he immediately covered his eyes with his hooves. “Don't eat me,” he pleaded desperately. Oh good, he could still talk. That was simply fantastic. He could beg for his life just before it was ended in this strange place, in this strange body, under these incomprehensibly strange circumstances.

In reply, he heard...giggling? Yes, a lot of giggling. And then a sudden fizzing sound. As he tentatively peeked out from behind a hoof, the figure, visibly beaming at him, was now illuminated by a floating sparkler. It appeared to be a vibrantly cobalt blue unicorn with a mane and tail of ruby, each which also had bright yellow stripes throughout and were complemented by a pair of shockingly orange eyes. The hair of her (at least, by the giggling he was fairly certain it was a ‘her’) mane and tail were very straight, and her mane seemed to poke out over her eyes and forehead almost like it was exploding in some grandiose yet graceful display. It provided a stark contrast to his own mussed state, where his mane, tail, and coat in general were full of dirt and tangled up from repeated falls. It took him a moment to realize the red glow surrounding both the unicorn's horn and the sparkler, and another for him to make the connection between the two. Magic? Of course, most peculiar about this figure, now that he could see her fully in the bright light of the sparkler, was the image of what was almost certainly a bottle rocket in mid-flight on her flank.

“What?” she replied, still beaming despite the audible confusion on her voice. “Why would I eat you? That's just silly!” She went to nudge the tussled, white pegasus with a green mane and continued. “What's your name? I'm Pyra! Are you exploring, too? Ooh, we can explore together!”

The pegasus, still on his back, stared up at the unicorn standing over him, now himself looking altogether befuddled. “I-I...um...er,” he stammered, blinking as he tried to come up with the right words. He slowly rolled over and went to stand up—wobbling again—and considered this Pyra some more as he tried to form any kind of coherent thought.

She giggled again, her blurting interrupting his silence. “Hey! You look like a spearmint!”

What? Orbs of an emerald matching his mane lingered upon the strange being before him, then wandered down across his fur, then finally back to the unicorn. Huh. He kind of did look like a spearmint. “Spearmint...yeah.” He nodded absently. The gears were slowly starting to turn again now that he wasn't entirely frightened. He looked back up at the sky again, his features pensive. His thoughts were intruded upon again, however, as Pyra interjected once more.

“Well, it's nice to meet'cha, Spearmint! I think we're gonna have the best time ever and— ” she cut herself off mid-sentence with a drawn-out gasp. “Where's your cutie mark?!”

“...My what?”

“You know, when you find out your special talent, you get your cutie mark! Except yours isn't there!”

A feathered pony’s rump met the ground, and he stared at Pyra like she was crazy. There was another pause as they exchanged looks, the quirky, horned pony peering back at him. Finally, he broke the silence. “I have no idea where I am, how I got here, and least of all, what in the world you're going on about. Last thing I remember was going to bed, and then I woke up here. I'm more afraid than I can ever remember being, and I'm not entirely convinced I'm even awake right now. ” He couldn’t believe he’d just blurted that all out, especially to a stranger. What was he thinking?!

Pyra stared at “Spearmint” for several moments, jaw agape. When she managed to recompose herself, she canted her head to the side as she inquired, “So you don't know you're in the Everfree forest, or how you got here, or what a cutie mark is?”

The pegasus’ reply was a simple shake of his head.

“Well, hm. Okay,” replied the unicorn, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a hoof. She then pointed at the image on her flank, the bottle rocket coming into full view. It looked a bit spectacular in its own right, “Spearmint” had to admit. “See, I'm good with fireworks! I can make all kinds of fireworks, and I know how to use them all safely and make big, flashy shows for all my friends! So I got a firework as my cutie mark. Everypony gets one once they find out what their special talent is. That's why everypony knows what a cutie mark is!” Now Pyra was the one to seat herself as her face scrunched up into a thoughtful expression. “Everypony except you, I mean.”

Well, that made as much sense as anything in this crazy nightmare land, the not-a-pony pony surmised. He nodded his acceptance of this and decided to move on with the conversation. Nevermind that he was now apparently named Spearmint. He could deal with that. He liked spearmint anyway, and if this was some kind of crazy, messed-up dream, it's not like it much mattered what he was called. And nevermind the new vocabulary. Given his present state, it was really logical wording to use, and he was counting his luck that they didn't speak French or something here. Or at least that this pony didn't. “Uh, is that important?”

“Everypony gets a cutie mark!” the self-proclaimed fireworks expert repeated. “I mean, when you're a foal, you're still young enough that you haven't really had time to discover your special talent yet, but I don't think I've ever heard of anypony our size still being a blank flank. I suppose it could happen, but...well, it doesn't matter. We'll just have to figure out what your special talent is!”

Spearmint gave Pyra a frustrated look. He didn't much care about discovering any 'special talent.' He just wanted to get out of this nightmare-dream and go home. “Is that really necessary?”

“Why, you got something more fun to do?” The unicorn beamed excitedly, awaiting the winged pony's reply.

More fun? Well, he didn't suppose it would necessarily be fun at all. It was certainly what he wanted to do, but really...he had no idea how he got here, or exactly where “here” was, and he was still half-certain he was dreaming anyway, so what the hey. He felt his breath rush past his lips in a show of resignation before answering, “No, not really.”

Pyra beamed again and bounced. “C'mon! Let's go and explore! Maybe that's what your special talent is!”

“I...don't think so,” Spearmint said. “Besides, aren't there animals living in this forest? Sounds dangerous to me. Maybe we should just go find a town...”

“Oh, sure there are! There's timber wolves and cockatrices and all kinds of other critters here. There's even an Ursa cave! But it's okay,” Pyra reassured in her overly-enthusiastic tone, something that the mint-colored pegasus was beginning to think was something that was unfortunately a norm for her. “They don't seem to go this deep into the forest. In fact, since I got this deep, I haven't seen any animals. Only hear them in the distance! Weird, huh? But I guess that's the Everfree forest for ya. I mean, in a place where the clouds move on their own, anything can happen, right?”

The green and white pegasus blinked. He opened his mouth to say something, but chose to sigh and nod instead. He then began an unstable trot past Pyra to the nearest path.

The excitable unicorn followed, the sparkler still fizzing in the air beside her to illuminate their immediate area. Though it threw sparks everywhere, they didn't appear hot enough to ignite any of the lush and healthy underbrush. “If you really wanna find a town, Ponyville is the closest to Everfree,” she added. “But we're very deep in the forest. It's a long trot from here. Of course, not so long of a flight.”

The pegasus continued his wobbly canter, only pausing as he noticed Pyra (and consequently, her oh-so-comforting sparkler) had stopped as well, staring at him. “...What?”

“What, what? You're a pegasus! You can fly us!”

“I, erm,” Spearmint didn't really like being put on the spot like that. He wasn't really certain how to word it. He didn't know how to fly. “I can't. My...um...wing's, uh, sprained. I think.” He looked away, hoping that would be enough to quiet the unicorn for now.

Pyra frowned and furrowed a brow, but seemed to accept the answer for the time being. As she continued regarding him, her head canted to the side. “You're walking funny,” she noted with a tone of genuine concern on her voice. “Are your legs hurt, too?”

A pang of guilt hit Spearmint as his little lie already started to grow, but it was too late. “I, um, yeah...it's no big deal.”

“Oh gosh,” exclaimed the cobalt unicorn. “We have to get you to a hospital as soon as we get to Ponyville!”

“That's really not necessary...”

“It is so! And then I'll get a bunch of fountains and we'll set them off to help you feel better!”

The pegasus gave another inward sigh. “Can...you just lead the way to...Ponyville?” He really didn’t want to continue focusing on his disabilities which he'd just falsified into injuries. Why did this pony even care so much about a stranger? He appreciated the help, sure, but certainly two people who just met shouldn't worry over each other so much?

“'Course!” came the ever-ecstatic mare's reply. She promptly trotted on ahead, allowing Spearmint to canter, and occasionally stumble, behind her. Pyra seemed to have an endless supply of sparklers, which was a benefit because every now and then the one they were using as a light source would run out and required replacing. Spearmint hadn't noticed before that she was also wearing a small bag slung over her side that was supported by a strap around her neck, and it provided easy access to the replacement sparklers (and presumably other small fireworks). What intrigued the pegasus most, however, was the way Pyra ignited the sparklers. Upon levitating them out of the pack, she would promptly hold them up to her horn which produced an initial spark of its own. It was such a simple, yet fantastic and wonderful thing to watch, that when Pyra gave him a great, big smile, he hadn't immediately realized she was actually returning one he had been giving her. He blushed with embarrassment and scuffed a hoof against the ground. The unicorn just giggled and continued on, allowing the pegasus to continue following along.

~*~*~*~

Spearmint was left with several thoughts upon reaching the longer stretches of such a lengthy walk. One, he realized that while hooves were definitely more durable than regular feet, they could, in fact, become sore. Two, although now he had much more practice walking with four legs and was rather more capable of keeping his balance, the rest of his body was protesting his previous, precarious grasp on movement for such a long duration. Three, and probably worst of all, no dream or nightmare would be this drawn out, boring, and agonizingly achy. That left the unfortunate conclusion that he was either dead, or this was in fact a bizarre twist of reality that he would have to cope with. On the one hand...hoof...whatever...being dead was easier to believe. On the other, if this was what being dead was like, being dead sucked.

Either way, he realized he wouldn't be waking up from this anytime soon. That meant coping. That, in turn, meant learning how to deal with this new place that he was stuck in. With the new body he was stuck in. Of course, the only guide he had right now was Pyra. Not that she was a horrible pony as far as companions went, but she was a little louder than the pegasus would have preferred. His resulting plan thus far was to thank Pyra for all her help once they got to Ponyville and then lose her as quickly as possible. After that, he would be free to find a job or...whatever it was these ponies did here to survive. That was really his only focus. Survive. He had no friends, no ties. No one would really have reason to bother him, and he was fine with that.

Except that he was so busy with these thoughts that he never noticed Pyra stopping mid-stride. She put a hoof over her mouth as she looked to her new compatriot. “Shhh,” she hushed, the sparkler doused. “We're in timber wolf territory. Quiet time now.”

Of course it was.

Spearmint lowered his ears—something he noted consciously after the fact—and crouched up next to the cluster of cobalt and ruby as she hid behind a fallen log.

“You have to stay really close to the trees or they will see you,” she whispered, barely audibly. “Follow me...carefully.”

Spearmint wasn't really so sure about this, but he nodded anyway. There wasn't much else he could do right now but follow Pyra's lead, so that was exactly what he did. They tip-hoofed along, skirting clearings instead of cutting through them. The pace was painfully slow; that was in a literal sense for Spearmint because his body and hooves were aching as it was, and straining them to move with special care made them cry out even more than before. It wasn't surprising, then, that he should collapse halfway past a particularly large clearing that showed a very nice view of several caves. Caves that were almost certainly timber wolf dens, Spearmint thought. He landed with a soft 'thwump!' (though in his ears, it seemed to echo throughout the entire forest) and cringed, his unicorn companion stopping to turn with a look of concern as she alternated between discerning if the pegasus was okay and whether or not they had been detected. When she was certain there were no wolves coming, she went to assist the uncoordinated mess of mint-colored fur and feathers. “I'm fine. I don't need any help,” Spearmint complained as quietly as he could, huffing a burst of air out of his nose in indignation to try and shrug off his embarrassment. Upright once more, he took a moment to compose himself, simply nodding ahead for Pyra to continue forward. His legs complied surprisingly well when suddenly a 'SNAP!' resounded somewhere beneath him. With a wince, he looked down.

There, underneath his right hoof, were the bipartisan remnants of an old twig.

The howls started almost immediately. By the sound of it, they were surrounded, and it took not a split second for Spearmint to take Pyra's nonverbal queue to make a run for it. The duo started galloping as hard as they could, weaving back and forth through the trees and brush. Growls and howls continually made their way closer. Though Spearmint couldn't see any of the wolves yet, he could hear the brush being pushed aside behind him. He dared not look back. Instead, he glanced over to the clearing to their left. He quickly found out that was still a mistake.

Preserving their pace in pursuit of the pair of ponies were the truly terrifying timber wolves. What Spearmint didn't realize until now was that the “timber” was very literal: these wolves were actually made of timber, and it had an effect of giving them an even more terrible appearance. Shoulders and joints all ended in sharp, jagged points, and Spearmint couldn't help but think of the scraggly trees he'd seen when he'd first started wandering. Particularly disturbing, however, were their eyes. Though they may have simply been reflecting the light of the moon, those eyes seemed to glow a menacing red-orange, like a living fire. The pegasus' will to run suddenly doubled.

Unfortunately, increasing his pace also reduced his control. He wound up tripping over a tall shrub and came to a screeching halt. He cried out, but Pyra didn't seem to hear. The cobalt unicorn kept running and quickly fell out of sight. Meanwhile, Spearmint could hear the growls of the wolves getting ever-closer. He pushed himself up and backed up against the trunk of a large tree, shrinking down as small as he could. He could see those eyes peering out from the dark, slowly approaching. They were staring right at him.

He cowered. This is it, he thought. I'm turned into a pony, and after only a few hours, I'm going to be eaten by nightmare monsters.

To top it all off, there was a hole in the canopy of the tree above him just big enough to allow a small beam of moonlight to drop down in front of him, allowing him to see in detail as the pack of timber wolves prowled out of the shadows into it, looking at him with those terrible, hungry eyes. He watched those wooden paws pad perilously closer, fangs ferociously fanned out. It was unreal. He didn't want to die, especially not this way! Fear, however, had him locked in place. As he looked from one predator to the next, he couldn't think of any way out of this. He was going to die.

CRACK!

Both Spearmint and the wolves looked up with surprise at the sudden, loud noise.

CRACK! CRACK! CRACKCRCRCRACKACRACKACRACKCRCRACK! Friiiiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzhhhoooooooooo! WhaBOOM!!!

The forest suddenly lit up with both light and sound. The timber wolves began quickly backing off before entirely turning tail to flee. The peagsus looked up in wonderment as he saw several colorful explosions of light through that little hole in the canopy. Fireworks! He had been saved...by fireworks! Not just any fireworks, he realized, as his gaze returned to ground level. There, between a pair of trees, stood a cobalt-colored unicorn with a red and yellow mane.

Pyra.

Spearmint had never been so happy to see anyone in his entire life. He galloped over and threw his forelegs around her in a big hug. Then, blinking, he quickly pulled away and tried to brush the awkwardness out of his mane with a hoof. The pyrotechnic unicorn just gave him a big grin, a string of expired firecrackers floating nearby. “Thank you,” he said, barely above a whisper. “I...that...that was the best fireworks display I ever saw.”

Pyra responded, beaming, “I'm glad you liked it! Now c'mon, we're close to Ponyville!”

The relieved pegasus bore no argument with that. The two continued on their way, the rest of their trip through the forest comparatively uneventful.

~*~*~*~

Spearmint was tired. He had been exhausted, but he'd spent a night at the hospital, giving him the advantage of a decent night's (well, and half of a morning's) rest. Getting comfortable had been an interesting task in itself for a few minutes, but he had managed to just flop on his side and finally fall asleep. Now he was still laying on the hospital bed, recovering. Pyra was there as well, though she appeared to be fairing much better than he. She was bouncing around as a poor nurse with a white fur coat and red mane which smartly matched her uniform (and also had neither wings nor a horn, Spearmint noted) who was insisting with frustration that pop-snappers were not appropriate for use inside a hospital. After all, patients were trying to rest...as she reminded the ecstatic unicorn repeatedly. As this went on, the pegasus reflected on the previous night. A doctor had seen both Pyra and her new pegasus friend, and then a nurse had treated Spearmint's abundance of cuts and bruises from his excessive falling as well as a few minor injuries his unicorn savior had sustained. Otherwise, the doctor had cleared the both of them with a clean bill of health, noting that there were no actual sprains or other similar injuries in either Spearmint's legs or wings. He decided it was best not to tell Pyra this by avoiding the subject altogether.

He climbed off the bed, wandering past the unicorn who stopped bouncing to turn her attention to the pegasus and trotted over to catch up with him. He sighed inwardly.

“Where are we going? Ooh, we could get those fountains,” she proclaimed excitedly. “Or celebrate with cupcakes! Or—oh! We could celebrate with cupcakes while we watch the fountains!”

Spearmint closed his eyes for a brief moment as they made their way for the door, steeling himself for what he was about to do. Upon stepping outside, he stopped, stepped aside, and put his front hooves on Pyra's shoulders as he looked into her eyes. “Pyra, look,” he began with a sigh. “You're a very nice pony, and I can't thank you enough for saving my life, but you really should stay away from me. I'm not a good per...I'm not a good pony.” He thought about his lie and, worse, about how he could have gotten Pyra killed when she came back for him. He thought about how he was going to ditch her just because he thought she was a little loud. He was still doing that last one, of course, but now it was for different reasons. He looked down, taking his hooves off of the unicorn. “I'll only wind up hurting you,” he concluded.

The usually energetic mare stared intently at the minty pegasus and frowned, her face scrunching up into that 'concerned Pyra' expression. “No, you look,” she responded, putting one hoof forward. “You are a good pony. I can tell. Like I can tell a good skyrocket.” She nodded matter-of-factly.

Spearmint considered this for a few moments, then spoke. “But I--”

“Nope.”

“You don--”

“Nope.”

“Can I just--”

“Nope.”

“I really don't--”

“Nope.”

He sighed. “You're not gonna let this go, are you?”

Pyra grinned. “Nope!”

“...Fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “Where do we go next?”

“Sugarcube Corner!”

Sugarcube Whatnow? The pegasus grumbled quietly, trying to figure out this new puzzle as he followed the dark blue unicorn down the street. It had been empty when they had first arrived in Ponyville, but now that it was nearly midday, ponies of all sorts of bright colors were milling about the little town as they went about their business. As he was stewing in his own frustration, both out of his inability to get rid of Pyra and from the alien nature of his situation in general, one thought crossed his mind most predominantly.

Why me?